Design of a MEMS-based, 3-axis accelerometer smart sensor

Accelerometers are used for a number of physical measurements in aerospace, defense, automotive, household appliances, instrumentation, transport, material handling, etc. Recently micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technologies have been used to manufacture accelerometers. MEMS sensors include transducer elements and the necessary signal conditioning electronics integrated together on a single integrated circuit (IC). This paper describes the design of a low-cost, compact MEMS-based smart sensor system for 3-axis acceleration measurement using only commercial off the shelf (COTS) components.